It's hard to get your arms, or more aptly, your mouth, around Taste of Cincinnati. There are 38 restaurant booths, all serving multiple dishes, plus food trucks and all the restaurants at the Taste Experience.

Amid all of the food offerings at this year's Taste, we take a look at the different types of food balls.
The Enquirer / Shauna Steigerwald

Even if you have a game plan (and I did on Saturday), you may find yourself tempted off course when you glimpse a cream puff or remember you haven't had a Zoomer for a while.

I did my best, trying a lot of things both according to a plan and to whim. Here are some of the best bites that I had.

It turned out to be something of an Italianfest for me. Over the last couple of years, several good Italian restaurants have joined Taste.

Veal short rib ravioli from Alfio's Buon Cibo, served at Taste of Cincinnati(Photo: Polly Campbell)

It's the first year for Alfio's Buon Cibo, and that was the very first booth I hit. Their veal short rib ravioli was fabulous; though it looks bland, it's very rich and mushroomy. The meat is delicious. (And in case the ribs thing throws you off, there are no bones; the meat from short ribs is shredded.)

Then there were the veal-ricotta meatballs from Via Vite that I liked this year. New is Via Vite's wonderful panini. I just about cried when a chunk of the shredded pork fell out on the sidewalk, but there was plenty left, topped with peperonata, and for only $5. This could be the centerpiece of your food stroll.

Panino food truck brought the whole-hog Bolognese on top of a crostini, which is topped with sprouts and pickled radishes -- all local and also $5.

Caprese salad from Giminetti Baking Company at Taste of Cincinnati(Photo: Polly Campbell)

Since I believe in eating salad, I tried a caprese salad from Giminetti ($5). It nicely balanced my meal -- if you can call what I did at Taste a "meal."

This sandia gazpacho ($4) from McCormick & Schmick's was tasty but light, with small pink shrimp (M&S is a seafood restaurant) and a bit of avocado. They were lucky to be able to serve it outside the doors of their restaurant.

Plov ($5) is not Italian. It's from Uzbekistan, served by Oasis Mediterranean Grill. It's a pilaf with carrots, beef and lamb. It was delicious -- the rice coated with flavor, and boasting lots of meat.

Laszlo's Iron Skillet brings German, or Hungarian, into my list. Their sauerkraut balls are good, and their schnitzel sandwich ($5) is amazing. A very nice piece of pork, hand-breaded, fried, is vastly larger than the homemade bun it's served on. Simple and delicious.

Enquirer entertainment reporter Shauna Steigerwald and I covered Taste together; we put together a video about all the different types of food balls at Taste -- meatballs, sauerkraut balls, and hog balls ($4) from Bistro Mohr food truck. Really, they're kind of like tater tots with cheddar and bacon. Just pop-in-your mouth good.